More proof Mediterranean diet can ward off heart disease

Feb 26 (Reuters) - A Mediterranean diet high in olive oil,nuts, fish and fresh fruits and vegetables may help preventheart disease and strokes, according to a large study fromSpain.

Past research suggested people who eat this type of diethave healthier hearts, but those studies couldn't rule out thatother health or lifestyle differences had made the difference.

But for the new trial, written up in the New England Journalof Medicine, researchers randomly assigned study volunteers atrisk of heart disease to a Mediterranean or standard low-fatdiet for five years, allowing the team to single out the effectof diet in particular.

"This is good news, because we know how to prevent the maincause of deaths - that is cardiovascular diseases - with a gooddiet," said Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez, who worked on thestudy at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona.

He and colleagues from across Spain assigned almost 7,500older adults with diabetes or other heart risks to one of threegroups.

Two groups were instructed to eat a Mediterranean diet - onesupplemented with extra-virgin olive oil and the other withnuts, both donated for the study - with help from personalizedadvice and group meetings. The third study group ate a "control"diet, which emphasized low-far dairy products, grains and fruitsand vegetables.

Over the next five years, 288 study participants had a heartattack or stroke, or died of any type of cardiovascular disease.

People on both Mediterranean diets, though, were 28 to 30percent less likely to develop cardiovascular disease than thoseon the general low-fat diet, the researchers said.

The new study is the first randomized trial of any dietpattern to show benefit among people initially without heartdisease, said Dariush Mozaffarian, who studies nutrition andcardiovascular disease at the Harvard School of Public Health.

It's the blend of Mediterranean diet components, and not oneparticular ingredient, that promotes heart health, according toMartinez-Gonzalez.

"The quality of fat in the Mediterranean diet is very good,"he told Reuters Health. "This good source of calories isreplacing other bad sources of calories. In addition, there is awide variety of plant foods in the Mediterranean diet," headded, including legumes and fruits as desserts.

He suggested that people seeking to improve their diet startwith small changes, such as forgoing meat one or two days aweek, cooking with olive oil and drinking red wine with mealsrather than hard alcohol.

Replacing a high-carbohydrate or high-saturated fat snackwith a handful of nuts is also a helpful change, experts said.

"I think it's a combination of what's eaten and what's noteaten," said Mozaffarian, who wasn't involved in the study."Things that are discouraged are refined breads and sweets,sodas and red meats and processed meats.

"The combination of more of the good things and less of thebad things is important."

Teresa Fung, a nutrition researcher at Simmons College inBoston, said that many people in the trial were already onmedications, such as statins and diabetes drugs.

"The way I see it is, even if people are on medicationalready, diet has substantial additional benefit," she added."This is a high-risk group, but I don't think people should waituntil they become high-risk in order to change."SOURCE: http://bit.ly/YuyV7v

(Reporting from New York by Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health;editing by Elaine Lies)